Today, the Shareholders of Zenith Bank Plc passed a resolution approving the distribution of N1.60 per share dividend for the financial year ended December 31, 2013.

Altogether, shareholders of the bank shared N50.23billion from net profit for the financial year ended December 31, 2012. By the close of the review financial year, 31,396,493,786 Ordinary Shares were issued to 667,407 shareholders of the bank.

But among this tumultuous number of shareholders of the bank are some special ones that call the shots. Ranking top among individual shareholders of the bank is the former Group Managing Director and founder, Mr. Jim Ovia whose holding stood at about 2.75billion ordinary shares, from which he raked in about N4.4billion with a dividend of 160kobo per share.

Ovia is the single largest shareholder in the bank as at the end of the financial year ended December 31, 2012. His shareholding was second to Stanbic Nominees Nigeria Limited which was the only identified institutional investor in the bank in the review financial year period.

Stanbic Nominees Nigeria Limited which had its holdings in Zenith Bank Plc splitted into two had in all about 4.35 billion ordinary shares of the bank. The Nominees investment in the review year however earned it about N6.97billion.

Besides Ovia and Stanbic Nominees Nigeria Limited, the 11 directors on the board of the bank had 112.45milion units of the shares from which they jointly made about N179.93million return on investment (ROI).

Mr. Godwin Emefiele, Group Managing Director of the bank had the lion’s share of N71.52 million followed a female executive director, Adaora Umeoji who earned about N41.52 million from her investment in the period.

Other members of the board whose dividend earning crossed the N1 million mark in the year under review include Sir Steve Omojafor, chairman board of director of the bank, is another person who account will swell this season as N7.116 million. Babatunde Adejuwon, N6.004 million.

One unique character of the board member is the fact that the executive directors of the bank have more stakes in it than the non-executive members. The implication of this according to investment experts is that they will be more productive knowing that their interest is at stake. Thus, they are more likely going to work for the progress of the bank, hence investors can trust them to drive the bank to produce good results at all times.

Among the seven persons that sit on the board of the bank in the executive capacity, only one of them owns no shares of the bank as at the review period. However, the remaining six ranked among mega investors in the bank. They include Peter Amangbo, Elias Igbinakenzua, Udom Emmanuel, Andy Ojei and Adaora Remy Umeoji.